Continue reading Interpublic Discloses Its Stake in Facebook

Interpublic Discloses Its Stake in Facebook originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Lehman initiated the Retail Hardlines Sector with a Neutral. The firm initiated coverage of Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) with Overweight ratings and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) and Williams Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) with Equal Weight ratings.
  
• Oppenheimer initiated Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR), Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX) and VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) with Perform ratings. The firm is cautious on the industry due to higher feedstock costs.
  
• UBS initiated Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) and Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) with Buy ratings and an $11 target and $62 target, respectively. The firm views valuation as attractive.

• Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of International Flavors (NYSE: IFF) with an Overweight rating.
  
• Wachovia initiated CGI Group (NYSE: GIB) with a Market Perform rating.
  
• Leap Wireless (LEAP) was initiated at RBC Capital with a Sector Perform rating and $55 target.

Analyst initiations: U.S. retail hardlines, biofuels, IPG and OMC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is set to trust most of its advertising and marketing to WPP, the big ad agency conglomerate based in the UK. The move is a blow to Interpublic (NYSE: IPG), which had been working to get the account.

The relationship between the PC company and ad agency will be set up as a partnership. The Wall Street Journal writes, "Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, said it would take WPP and Dell roughly three to six months to build the new firm, which will start with about 1,000 employees. Dell management around the world will have to give up local ad ties."

But, the manner in which the deal was cut says a lot about what is wrong with Dell. Picking the new agency took almost three quarters. And it will take almost another quarter to set it up. That means that the PC company's marketing plans will have been in flux for almost a year. With all of Dell's problems, the company can hardly afford to spread significant decisions over such a long period.

It is good that Dell has finally made a decision, but it is very bad that it does not have processes in place to speed getting to the finish line on such critical problems.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

At last, Dell moves ads to WPP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe the stock is trading as if the Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) deal is off. Jefferies thinks the Sprint/Clearwire deal is still in the best interest of both companies.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Buy from Hold, as they believe the contribution from XenSource beginning in Q4 could be better than expected.
  
• UBS upgraded shares of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) citing stronger Q3 International results and potential share repurchases. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Piper Jaffray raised shares of Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) to Market Perform from Underperform, as they are incrementally more positive on shares following the company's Q3 upside. They believe the company has turned the corner on profitability.
  
• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) to Outperform from Peer Perform on valuation and expectations for improved performance in 2008.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Friedman Billings raised its rating on IMS Health (NYSE: RX) to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) to Hold from Sell.
  
• RadiSys Corporation (NASDAQ: RSYS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Cantor.

Analyst upgrades: CLWR, CTXS, MO, OSTK and IPG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan based on expectations for margin expansion in 2H07 driven by share gains, stable pricing, and lower costs. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at American Technology as the firm believes the price war is ending sooner than expected and that NOR Flash could be divested soon.

• Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT) was upgraded at Wachovia to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect a re-acceleration in earnings growth and a lower probability of a recession.

• Soleil upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) to Buy from Hold as the firm believes WFC is an attractive late-cycle play with above-average growth prospects and superior risk management.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) to Buy from Neutral, citing valuation. Oppenheimer upgraded M&T Bank to Neutral from Sell based on valuation and revised estimates. Keefe Bruyette raised Regions Financial rating to Market Perform from Underperform.
  

• Susquehanna upgraded shares of NICE Systems Ltd (NASDAQ: NICE) to Positive from Neutral as the firm expects strong execution from the company's robust product set and increased market share following the Verint Systems' (VRNT) acquisition of Witness Systems (WITS).

• Comerica (NYSE: CMA) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

• JP Morgan upgraded Interpublic Group of Cos (NYSE: IPG) to Overweight from Neutral.

• ThinkEquity upgraded Trimeris, Inc (NASDAQ: TRMS) to Source of Funds from Sell.

Analyst upgrades 4-18-07: CAT, CMA, INTC & WFC upgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has its way, its program for buying newspaper ads and radio time will automate a process that is now being handled by ad agencies. The process is fairly labor intensive. At least for now.

As Google moves into the offline ad buying business, it is being followed by eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). EBay has set up a TV buying service and Yahoo! recently announced an online ad deal with 176 newspapers.

All of this could make life for public ad agency giants like Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG), Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE:OMC) and WPP Group ADS (NASDAQ:WPPGY) a little tough. Selling advertising through online auction systems takes away a key ad agency function -- selected ad buying media for large marketing clients.

Some large advertisers are already jumping over the fence.

Continue reading Google's deal with newspapers puts pressure on ad agency shares

Google's deal with newspapers puts pressure on ad agency shares originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.